Heather Mills plans to take on McDonald's

Although vegans make up less than 0.2 percent of the U.S. population and 0.25 percent of the U.K. population, Heather Mills nonetheless believes that her vegan chain, VBites, will one day rule the fast-food scene.

“In 10 years there will be more VBites restaurants than McDonald’s,” Mills told reporters. “It’s the future. We’ve been using the time when the cafe has closed for brainstorming. VBites has been phenomenally successful this year. Everyone loves the food, even carnivores. Plans for it to become a franchise are very much on.”

While you don't have to be a vegan or vegetarian to enjoy delicious animal-free grub, I still think it's a bit of a reach to say that your chain will conquer McDonald's more than 31,000 franchises in less than a decade. Actually, it's delusional.

Mills is promising a big announcement next year about VBites. That announcement likely will be related to the franchising hints she mentioned. While I'd love to see it skyrocket and take on McDonald's, perceptions of vegan and vegetarian food are still very much skewed. It's going to take a lot more time than 10 years to shift worldwide eating habits away from junk food and towards something more healthy.

The greatest hope/pipe dream is that in 10 years, there's something like VBites for every 100 McDonald's.

Nonetheless, for better or worse, Mills is one of the more actively involved advocates for the vegan scene — and was even named VegNews Magazine's Person of the Year in 2009. Beyond her vegan cafe, she's also the owner of the Redwood Wholefood Company, an award-winning producer of natural plant-based, animal-free foods.

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